diff --git a/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc b/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc
index b11ef1ce0e..ef51b7af3d 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/system_exec.cc
@@ -195,10 +195,13 @@ SystemExec::SystemExec (std::string command, const std::map<char, std::string> s
 {
 	init ();
 	make_argp_escaped(command, subs);
-	if (!find_file (Searchpath (Glib::getenv ("PATH")), argp[0], cmd)) {
-		// not found in path - use as-is
-		cmd = argp[0];
+
+	if (find_file (Searchpath (Glib::getenv ("PATH")), argp[0], cmd)) {
+		// argp[0] exists in $PATH` - set it to the actual path where it was found
+		free (argp[0]);
+		argp[0] = strdup(cmd.c_str ());
 	}
+	// else argp[0] not found in path - leave it as-is, it might be an absolute path
 
 	// Glib::find_program_in_path () is only available in Glib >= 2.28
 	// cmd = Glib::find_program_in_path (argp[0]);
@@ -281,13 +284,13 @@ SystemExec::~SystemExec ()
 	terminate ();
 	if (envp) {
 		for (int i=0;envp[i];++i) {
-		  free(envp[i]);
+			free(envp[i]);
 		}
 		free (envp);
 	}
 	if (argp) {
 		for (int i=0;argp[i];++i) {
-		  free(argp[i]);
+			free(argp[i]);
 		}
 		free (argp);
 	}